Five Little Sevenah?

After winning the Best of Best In Show in December, Sevenah said goodbye to her show coat and prepared for motherhood. In January, camera caught her delivering her bunnies http://ncag.blogspot.com/2008/01/may-i-have-some-privacy-please.html

Out of seven bunnies born, five have grown into handsome boys and pretty girls. Is there a special little Sevenah among the five? Or all five will take after their mom?

Charlie's Dog and Cats

In addition to English Angora, Charlie and David have a dog and two cats.

It is obvious the dog and the cats get along with each other very well.

Carol Guest Blogs About AZ Shows

Yes, there are mountains in Tucson.

And cactus too.

Judges Bob P (left) and Carol G (right) pose with Allen M and his Tan (BIS) and Netherland Dwarf (RBIS) for Show B on Saturday.

Allen and his beautiful Tan. This rabbit can really run!

Mary M and her cute Holland Lop.

Memorial Day weekend is a great time for barbeques and relaxing, but its an even better time for a rabbit show! I went to Tucson, AZ for the Southern AZ Rabbit Breeders Association show, that included double open/double youth shows on both Saturday and Sunday. That's one way to beat the high cost of gasoline--just make a weekend of it. It was held in a hotel ballroom and right outside the door were comfortable seats, a lunch buffet, and the swimming pool. Temperatures were mild last weekend, although Tucson can get very hot (90 - 100+ in the summer) so the ballroom was well airconditioned.

Even though I felt I had traveled far, guess who I saw in AZ. Yep all the usual suspects from California, as well as a many wonderful people I had never met before from AZ and other western states. In the open shows, California folks took away the Best in Show awards though. Randy S and Allen M have so many nice rabbits, it just isn't fair. For most of the shows, they had three rabbits on the BIS table. I saw them take BIS and RBIS three times (I had to leave before the last BIS judging).

In the youth shows, Mary M of AZ had a beautiful Holland Lop and equally lovely American Fuzzy Lop. Between these two rabbis she dominated Best in Show.

I Can't Believe I Ate the Whole Thing!

Happiness is seeing bunnies with full tummies.

Nippon Rabbit Club's First Show

Koichiro Sasaki and Judge Jim Rowland.

As reported on March 29, there is a new rabbit club in Japan: Nippon Rabbit Club. Their first show was held during the Memorial Day weekend; judge is Jim Rowland from Florida. Jim flew to CA to work on his judge's license in Red Bluff last December and now he is in demand nationally and internationally.

Nippon Club secretary Mr. Nakayama reports,

"Our club 1st show successful finished. Open Breed show 235 rabbits.86 exhibitors. Judge began 9:00AM finished 5:00PM. Lunch time was just 30minutes. Judge Mr.Jim Rowland. He was worked so hard because our for the first time show. Very Very Thanks Mr.Jim Rowland. He told us about american rabbit show before the show. He told me about your very wonderful Angora,strong bone,good round body,huge wool,etc. Best in show winner was nonmember, Holland lop Solid Junior Buck. Runner up in show winner was Nippon Rabbit Club president Koichiro Sasaki, Netherland Dwarf Otter Junior Buck."

Thanks to Mr. Nakayama for sharing the picture and report and wish them to have many more shows to come.

Mushroom Mardi Gras in Morgan Hill

A balloon gateway to the Mushroom Mardi Gras.

Cinderella booth for little and big girls.

Stuffed animals as pillows.

A local band gets a gig.

A good venue to promote the local wineries.

People and dog are enjoying the food.

Walking a cat in a street fair? What were they thinking?

In 1979 the volunteers in Gilroy, CA set up a non-profit organization to put on an annual Garlic Festival in July. It was an instant hit and Gilroy became known as the Garlic Capital of the United States. This organization had raised millions for local schools and non-profit organizations.

In 1980 the volunteers in Morgan Hill, 12 miles north of Gilroy, set up another non-profit Mushroom Mardi Gras to run a festival during the Memorial Day weekend each year. Somehow the Mushroom is not as romantic as Garlic; it has never been as well known or as successful as the Garlic Festival but nonetheless still raised funds for scholarships in local school.

The Mushroom Mardi Gras is now an admission-free street fair with lots of food, demo and commercial booths. It's fun for the locals and the visitors alike.

Charlie's Bunnies Are Growing

During the Grand National at Cow Palace in April, Charlie picked up his bunnies that were staying at Betty's house. At the time, the bunnies were 5 weeks old.

It has been another 5 weeks since Charlie has them; at ten weeks old they are growing in body and wool. Charlie is very happy with them; he plans to debut them in the triple shows at Carol's backyard on June 28.

The top picture shows these four bunnies at 10 weeks old and the second picture was taken at the Grand National.